A wide variety of fasteners has been developed for use with clothing. For example, snaps, zippers, buckles, and straps are often used to secure footwear, trousers, and jackets. One of the simplest and most common forms of fasteners is the lace.
In that regard, laces are widely used to secure footwear to people's feet. By way of illustration, a single lace is typically used to retain a shoe on a wearer's foot. The shoe is initially "laced" by threading the aglets or tips of the lace through eyelets provided in the shoe's flaps in an alternating, crossed pattern adjacent the shoe's tongue. The portions of the lace extending between the top flap eyelet and the lace aglets, referred to herein as the lace "ends," should be roughly equal in length.
Once the shoe is laced, the lace is usually tied in the following manner. First, tension is applied to the ends of the lace, pulling the flaps of the shoe together and cinching the shoe's tongue securely against the wearer's foot. The ends of the lace are then conventionally tied together to prevent the flaps from spreading and keep the shoe securely on the wearer's foot. Generally, a "butterfly" knot is used to secure the ends of the lace together. This knot is often employed because it is relatively secure, yet relatively easy to tie and untie.
As will be appreciated, the use of a lace to secure a shoe is just one application for laces in clothing. In that regard, a lace is often used as a drawstring at the waist of a jacket or a pair of pants, or the opening of a hood. This use of a lace, though somewhat simpler than that described above, still relies upon the fastening of the ends of the lace together to hold an article of clothing in place.
Although conventional lace fasteners are simple, inexpensive, and relatively effective, they do present some problems. For example, small children are often unable to properly tie a butterfly knot or tie such a knot with sufficient force to prevent it from quickly untying. The same is true of an adult that has only one hand free, or available, to tie the ends of the laces. In either case, the laces included on many articles of clothing may provide unsuitable fasteners.
Given the widespread use of laces for fasteners, it would be desirable to provide a simple, inexpensive device or technique that would allow the ends of a lace to be easily and securely tied together.